I was surprised to learn this was possible but there exist folks who control dice at Craps tables.

On Jul 25, 2016, Ergerbor wrote:
.... but am open to refutations.

On Jul 25, 2016, Ergerbor wrote:
....but not impossible.

On Jun 6, 2016, JasonEngland wrote:
Marc,

It's important to keep in mind that Shortridge was only 11 years old when he saw that demo with the dice in the diner.

With that in mind, what Karl was describing is almost certainly a "whip cup" scenario. Many people are under the impression that you need a "special" cup and dice with edge work in them to have a whip cup. Not true. Those things help, but they're not absolute necessities.

I once used a standard Yahtzee cup and 4 normal drugstore dice to win $100 for me and Eric Mead at the front desk of the Tropicana hotel in Las Vegas. Eric was checking in and they had a little tray with the cup and dice and a placard:

One pair wins coupon book.
Two pair wins free dinner.
Three-of-a-kind wins tickets to a show.
Four-of-kind wins $100 cash.

So, while Eric was checking in I set the dice in the cup on four sixes. I then looked at Michael Weber who was standing with us and winked. He nodded and we waited for Eric to finish checking in.
As the clerk was handing Eric his keys and receipt, Weber said, "Excuse me, when I checked in yesterday there was a little tray with some dice. I got to roll the dice and I won a coupon book. Does he (pointing to Eric) get to do that?"
The clerk said, "Oh yes - it's right next to this gentleman" (pointing to me).
Eric started to reach for the cup and Weber stopped him with, "But Eric, as a Christian Scientist you're not allowed to touch dice." Mead just stared at him with a "WTF are you talking about?" look on his face.
"Oh that's okay," the clerk said, "anyone can roll them."
With that, I picked up the cup and said, "I just shake them like this and roll?" As I said that, I did a few whip cup-style whips and dumped the dice onto the tray. Four sixes landed beautifully and perfectly.
"Twenty-four!" Weber announced. "What does that get him?"
The clerk stammered, "That's not twenty-four...."
"Sure it is," Michael interrupted, "Six plus six is twelve and twelve times two is twenty-four."
"No, you don't understand, that's four-of-a-kind. You win $100 cash." the clerk responded. She walked away to retrieve a receipt book.
While she did that, Eric finished putting the pieces together in his head. Now he knew why Michael stopped him from shaking the dice and rolling.
The clerk returned, Eric signed for his cash and she handed him a $100 bill. "We'll chop it later" I whispered.
We weren't halfway through the lobby before Eric fished a $50 out of his pocket and handed it to me.

The moral of this story? Although I own several whip cups, the most important element isn't having the exact equipment you need, but understanding the principles at play. Drugstore dice don't have sharp edges so they won't "grab" the sides of the cup like razor-edged casino dice will. That's what the edge work is for - it causes the dice to trip and tumble until the desired sides are all lined up inside the cup. Then the dice stop tumbling and just slide around in an arc. With drugstore dice, you can't go from truly random to a controlled outcome like you can with real whip dice, but if you were placing the dice into the cup on the combinations you wanted (as I was), then there is an excellent chance that they will stay in that orientation during your whipping/shaking action.

I'd bet good money that Burton had long ago figured out that drugstore dice would hold their orientation with a whipping action in one of his straight-sided diner glasses. It wouldn't be a perfect situation for real gambling/cheating, but it would work as a simple demo. It's certainly going to work well enough to fool an 11-year old.

Jason